Garcia-Prats AJ, Salazar-Austin N, Conway JH, et al. COVID-19 pharmacologic treatments for children: research priorities and approach to pediatric studies [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 29]. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;ciaa885. doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa885

Clinical trials of pharmacologic treatments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are being rapidly designed and implemented in adults. Children are often not considered during development of novel treatments for infectious diseases until very late. Although children appear to have a lower risk compared to adults of severe COVID-19 disease, a substantial number of children globally will benefit from pharmacologic treatments. It will be reasonable to extrapolate efficacy of most treatments from adult trials to children. Pediatric trials should focus on characterizing a treatment’s pharmacokinetics, optimal dose and safety, across the age spectrum. These trials should use an adaptive design to efficiently add or remove arms in what will be a rapidly evolving treatment landscape, and should involve a large number of sites across the globe in a collaborative effort to facilitate efficient implementation. All stakeholders must commit to equitable access to any effective, safe treatment for children everywhere.